5-14 Peter And Satan

Luke 22:31; “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat”.

See 2.3.2 “The Jewish Satan”.

Apart from the comments on these two verse there, it is noteworthy that the Lord had previously warned that the Jewish satan would be actively trying to influence the disciples away from the Truth: “Woe unto the world (often referring to the Jewish world in the Gospels) because of the offences!...but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!...whoso shall offend one of these little ones (the disciples - Zech. 13: 7 cp. Matt. 26: 31) which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned” (Matt. 18: 6-7). This invites comparison with “Woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed...it had been good for that man if he had not been born” (Matt.26: 24). Notice that this stumbling of the disciples at the hand of the Jewish world and its servant Judas was to be around the time of Christ’s capture (Matt. 26:31); which is what Luke 22:31 is warning the disciples (“you” plural) about, and which proved to be so relevant to Peter in the hours after the Lord’s capture. Further proof that “the world” that was to cause these offences was the Jewish world is found by comparing Matthew 13:38 & 41 (and cp. notes on these verses in “The Jewish Satan”).